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American Spirit II - Day 47; Day Tour Isla Santa Cruz; Wednesday, February 19, 2014



Up at 7:00 AM, looking for a boat that is supposed to pick up our garbage. No such luck. Not sure such a boat exists.

At 8:30 AM we took a water taxi, cost $.60 per person before 7:00 PM and $1.00 per person after 7:00 PM. The water taxi's at Santa Cruz were longer and capable of handling larger seas and seating more people than the water taxi's at San Cristobal.

Our tour started at 9:15 AM, when we boarded a taxi. There were 8 of us in the tour. 2 taxi's and one guide riding in the other taxis. Our first stop was the Chato Turtle Reserve, a private ranch were giant tortoises roamed free. We drove around and saw a fair number, then stopped by a lake (really, a small pond), where we saw a male and female in the water. The male, according to our guide, was 120 years old; and the female older. He stated that the male was still growing due to the condition of his shell. While at this pond, I came upon another giant tortoise in the tall grass, who as he pulled his head into his shell, hissed at me.

During the day our guide told us that the two nationalities that visit the Galapagos the most were the Americans and Germans. (There were 4 Germans on the tour with us). He said that the Americans were responsible for the earlier ecological successes on the islands; and the Germans were responsible for many of the technological successes on the islands.

Our next stop was at a Lava Tunnel. The tunnel was only 120 meters long, but it seemed much longer. Seemed like a quarter mile long. The interior was lit by lights, but not a lot. And during the walk thru the tunnel there were many rocks to traverse and we had to lower our head and stoop on occasion due to the low ceiling. Some of the walking areas had rope so we could grab it and not fall down. The ground was wet, being underground.

Our final stop was an elevated point where we could see much of the island and islands off shore. It was a beautiful site, but getting up to it required a lot of effort.

The tour ended at 1:30 PM. After that, we stopped at the Hernan restaurant for lunch. Pizza again; with salad and flan or ice cream for dessert.

We ended up of the sailing vessel Celebrate at 4:30 PM for a cocktail party hosted by Charlie and Cathy Simon. Being on a large sail boat (58 feet) is a treat compared to American Spirit's 40 feet. A bottle of champagne was opened and drained.

At 5:30 PM Joel and I went to a meeting at The Rock restaurant, where our agent Ivonna gave us details about the 5 day cruise that Janet and I are going to take starting February 21. We'll be joining 12 other persons in our Rally for this cruise.

We played Rummie again at 8:00 PM, where I was finally able to break my losing streak and win some games.

At 11:00 PM while reading in the cockpit I noticed that a large catamaran in our Rally had swung 180 degrees (no stern anchor) and was only 15 feet from us. For a while I thought it was going to keep swinging and hit us. Another boat, the commercial Majestic one I described yesterday that was belching black smoke, also had no stern anchor out and was swinging towards us. By midnight they had swung back to a non-threatening position. Thank God!

Brian Fox



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